Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within

GK:2 stands out as probably the best of a brief spate of games that came out in the 90s featuring live actors in streaming video. The game uses excellent actors, a simplified and intuitive method of interaction and a compelling story-line to perfect what was always a flawed gaming system and deliver a fantastic, deep adventure game. The Beast Within is, obviously a sequel. It rejoins Gabriel Knight, now as a struggling Shattenjaeger in Germany trying to solve a string of murders involving a suspected werewolf. Unlike most sequels, which just provide more of the same, GK:2 reinvents itself. Due to the method of using live actors the interface has been completely retooled. No more do you have to choose between take, move, operate and speak commands. If you can use it, the cursor will change to a dagger and allow you to do so. There is a great deal to operate, which gives you a much greater feeling of being involved in the action than most games of this type. Unlike other live action games, which often leave you feeling like you're just passively watching a bad movie, GK:2 keeps you involved, making you feel like a detective in a dime store murder mystery. GK:2 stands out, for me, as the best of the series. The quality of the series fell off sharply in the third installment as it attempted to make a transition to full 3-d. Here however, the game designers manage to transition beautifully into a new style, taking the best and discarding the worst.

The heyday of 1990s FMV (full motion video) games. No finer example, imho. I wish more had been done with FMV, but thereafter games went to naff early 3D (which took another decade to be as nice to look at as FMV) or went down the interactive-movie route (which frankly bore me). Sure, today's 3D AAA games make FMV redundant/dated, but I feel what could've been another decade of FMV gaming was abandoned before it's time. Compare these previews to the 3D ones in Gabriel Knight 3 - 3D would be trash for at least another decade. Story-wise you get a nice sense of the mystery. I'm only knocking a star off for some typically clunky 1990s gameplay sequencing - eg a neat little location I found and searched thoroughly for evidence, but presumably earlier than the expected sequence because nothing was there - but when later stuck I eventually went back there and the evidence was now magically in place, presumably having been triggered by a certain conversation/sequence. Why not have the have it there but alternatively later enable a conversation about it? Painful - but thankfully there isn't much of that.

I gotta be honest, and maybe it's strictly 'nostalgia' speaking, but this is my favorite FMV type game. I first played this on Win95 when I was about 12 years old or so. The plot is fantastic, the controls are pretty easy to get used to(much improved from the 1st game with the cursor changing mechanics). While the acting isn't exactly 'top notch'(notice Gabe's head tilt EVERYTIME he says something), it's still very entertaining for a game that came out at that time. If you can somehow get your hands on the book based on this game, do so(it isn't cheap anymore >.< ). My ONLY complaint is that Mosely isn't in this game, unlike the 1st and 3rd installments.

Gabriel tries to get into his role as Schattenjäger, even if he still really understands, what it means. He is called to Munich to look for what appears to be a Werewolf. At that time the game came out FMVs were the next big thing, so of course they tried to follow the trend. I never really liked the actor, even if he did a good job, I was just too used to Tim Curry's voice. But he would not have suited the role. Ths story is nice, brings you to some iconic in and around Munich, with references (and dreams/visions) of long dead kings and composers. Gabriel doesn't know German, sometimes he does not understand what people say, so for the German localization they had to think of something. While most of the time people speak plain German for everything Gabriel understands, those who say something that he doesn't understand, speak in a bavarian dialect which is used in the region.

I somehow remembered this from my teenage years as being just average, but I loved this sooooooo much 25 years later. The mid-90s was a time when video game technology was all about using live actors, which did not seem to last that long and will likely never happen again. I think this is why it is such a fantastic experience. There are tough puzzles; so much so that I had to look up a few cheats when my memory failed me. I love the actors (I'll chalk some of that up to nostalgia), the script, the history, and the excitement.